A six-person House-Senate conference committee on Monday began working to reconcile legislative changes to the existing marijuana law under the pressure of a self-imposed deadline of Fri., June 30,to put the legislation on the Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk. Local elected officials are pushing to retain equity language in the final bill, citing drug law enforcement’s historically disproportionate impact on disadvantaged communities.

The House and the Senate last week passed different versions of the legislation (H.3778 and S.2090), substantially altering the 2016 referendum language that voters approved by a 54 to 46 percent margin. The differences between the two proposals are significant.

Neither version changes the previously implemented portions of the ballot law. Adults 21 or older can use marijuana in their home, possess up to one ounce in public and up to 10 ounces at home, gift up to one ounce to another adult, and grow up to 12 marijuana plants at home if there is a second adult living in the home. Once retail shops open – expected in July 2018 – adults 21 or older will be able to legally purchase marijuana and marijuana-infused products.

In a significant change to as-yet unimplemented portions of the law, the Senate bill keeps the original maximum 12 percent tax rate, but the House bill calls for an effective rate of 28 percent.

Another key difference between the bills is the question of who will have the authority to ban marijuana facilities from a city or town. The Senate maintained the ballot law’s requirement that a city or town can only ban the facilities by a town-wide referendum; the House changed that to give the power to local elected and appointed officials.

As to other suggested changes, the Black and Latino Caucus offered amendments that were adopted on both the House and Senate side of the bill, many of them focused on ensuring equitable participation in the new marijuana industry by low-income and minority communities.

A batch of amendments put forward by Representatives Evandro Carvalho, Russell Holmes, and others were bundled in and adopted as part of the House Bill. And state Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry proposed three amendments that were voted into the Senate version of the bill, one of them asking for improved access to cost-effective medicinal marijuana for veterans.

The proposed changes included measures asking the Cannabis Control Commission to ensure that those charged with prior drug offenses, unless they involved sales to minors, would not be denied licenses. Another proposed fix would eliminate overly broad restrictions on individuals with prior convictions.

Much of the language aims to protect participation in the budding industry for communities impacted negatively in the past by harsh marijuana laws. These amendments would also require funding from marijuana-related revenues to be spent on restorative justice, jail diversion, workforce development, industry specific technical assistance, mentoring services, small business start-up capital, and loans for disadvantaged individuals.

“As Massachusetts works to fully implement adult use, it is critically important that we work to restore economic opportunity for residents adversely impacted by the prohibition of cannabis,” Sen. Forry said in a statement. “These amendments make sure we are purposefully intentional about diversity and inclusion as we create the framework for a new industry in the Commonwealth.”

City Councillor At-Large Ayanna Pressley, who worked with the Black and Latino Caucus to help craft some of the equity language, encouraged the conference committee to preserve those components through the reconciliation process.

“The start of a new industry is NOT the time to compromise on equity,” she wrote in an emailed statement on Monday. “There are strong provisions in both the House and Senate bills that if combined, would, I believe, put Massachusetts on a pathway to be a national leader on equity…. The War on Drugs had a disparate and devastating impact on low income and communities of color. This language will help us reverse the injustices of the past and narrow our wealth gap by ensuring equitable opportunity in licensing, ownership, and workforce for people of color.”

Material from the State House News Service was used in this report.